Mad Scientists

Location: Henderson Elementary School

Date: Saturday, November 3, 2012; 9:50 am-12:00 pm

Henderson Elementary School, based in the south-side of Chicago, is a school for low-income African-American kids.  Chicago Cares has been conducting programs in the school for years, especially on Saturdays where different groups from Chicago Cares work with one of the grades through programs like arts, science or history.  The opportunity that I signed up for was working with Fourth graders on variety of science experiments.

Getting there proved to be a considerable challenge.  With my aversion for taking buses,  I preferred to go via the Orange Line CTA route, which meant there was over a mile walk from the train station.  What I did not realize was that unlike walking on Michigan Avenue, this was a walk by the side of a street frequented by heavy vehicles.  I did however manage to arrive on time and was directed to a class room where I met Molly, our volunteer leader.  She explained the experiments that we would be doing that day and asked if I had any Chemistry background, since that was the theme of the day.  I said “You can say that”, but my smile was wiped out when she told me that none of the other volunteers did and so I could take the lead if I wanted to.  I hastily added that it was a long time ago, but the damage had already been done.  Plus, when they found out that I have a doctorate in Polymer Science, I was looked upon as the key contributor. 

The kids arrived like a hurricane and there was lot of noise and running around.  Molly and two of the other regular volunteers, Pat and Brenna had seen all of this before and thus did a splendid job of restoring order.  The volunteers were introduced as either Mr. or Miss and I said I was a Doctor, though not the kind to whom you go when you are sick.  I thought it may be a good idea for the kids to know what kind of education opportunities and paths exist after school.  As we introduced ourselves, Molly wanted both, the kids and the volunteers, to state their favorite thing to do in Fall.  There were many things such as drinking hot chocolate, playing in the leaves, watching football etc.  We had made a good start. 

Hand of Frankenstein

Molly had prepared printouts for each of the two experiments and each adult was paired with a group of kids.  The first experiment was called ‘Hand Of Frankenstein’ and involved covering a cup containing vinegar with a latex glove containing baking soda.  As the soda drizzled down in to the vinegar, it would release carbon dioxide through an acid-base reaction, thus leading to expansion of the glove - like a hand of Frankenstein.  The kids loved it and almost all of them ended up painting their hand after it had expanded to its fullest extent.  Molly was very good in getting the kids to understand the principles behind the experiment, as well as soliciting answers from them.  The next experiment was to make colored goop from corn starch.  This is always a kid favorite activity and something we used to do in my previous job on ‘Bring-your-child-to-work-day’.  Since the experiment is based on principles related to polymers, I got to explain to the kids what the polymers are and their applications.  The goop experiment was extremely messy, but a huge success.  Kids thoroughly enjoyed it and although there were a few trouble makers who tried to get it all over their friends, we got through the exercise without much damage. 

After the experiment Molly handed each kid a snack and then we played games till it was time to leave.  It had been a terrific morning and despite all the noise and some mayhem, I had loved every minute of it.  As is the case in any class, there was a kid David, who was the primary trouble maker.  But he was also engaged in the experiments, unlike another kid Justin.  He spent most of the morning sitting by himself in a corner, drawing in a notebook.  When I walked over and looked at his work, I was impressed.  I hope that someone in his life encourages this passion or at least tries to understand him better through his drawings. 

We left the school at noon and this time I took the bus to the Red Line stop at Garfield.  I thought about the time we had spent and hoped that we had shown the children that science could be fun.  These are great kids and all they need is the right encouragement and support.  Molly, Pat and Brenna are doing exactly that; and in doing so are re-living those magical days of childhood. 


*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy